Theme day: Flea Market

The theme for July is Flea Market.

 The owner of the booth is from Kenya.  She designs the clothes and then her sister in Kenya makes them and sends them to her.  It was a popular booth.

 

Buzz

A mural in the pollinator garden at the environmental connections magnet school.

And yes, there were a lot of buzzing bees.

 

Boardwalk

A boardwalk around Shelly Lake.   It's usually filled with dog walkers, joggers, strollers and walkers.

 

Little people

Is he an elf? A dwarf? A gnome?

I don't know, but he was watching people walk by from a crook in a tree.

 

Find the frog

He was so small we had trouble seeing him until he moved.

Do you see him?

 

Strolling

A goose family taking a walk in the park.

 

Balance beam

Balance Beam

Is this heron trying out for the gymnastics team?

 

Sweet Betsy

It looks wonderfully exotic, but its a native plant.  It has some great names:

Bubby Bush, Carolina Allspice, Common Sweetshrub, Spicebush, Sweet Betsy, Sweet Bubby Bush, Sweetshrub, Sweet Shrub, mostly referring to its sweet scent. (see here)

 

Balancing Act

How can such a big bird balance on a skinny twig?

 

More summer fun

The bouncy slide was a big hit at a downtown festival. 

 If only it was a water slide...  

 

Summer fun

On a hot day, you can't keep kids out of the fountain.

Why would you want to?

 

Deer

A group of young deer watched us walk by on a busy park pathway.

 

Mimosa

The scent of mimosas is in the air.  (see here  for more about this beautiful invasive tree) 

 

New Mural

A new mural decorates a sewer vault at Shelly Lake.

Herons and cormorants, common birds at the lake.

 

Water Hemlock

Growing on the edge of the lake, the water hemlock is blooming.

Very pretty, but don't eat!

 

Bike

I don't know why a jewelry store has a bicycle advertising out in front, but it's sweet.

 

Lost in the trees

The fishing bobber looked like a Christmas tree ornament or exotic fruit.

 

Dragonfly

The dragonflies are zooming around the lake already.  

Summer is here!

 

Light in the forest

It's hard to photograph the light and dark in the forest.  This is as close as I've come to the way your eye can see it.

 

Inside the Tunnel

A popular place for graffiti artists.

 

Tunnel

Mine Creek greenway tunnel.

 

World Refugee Day

Last Saturday was World Refugee Day in downtown Raleigh.

It was a celebration of refugees from all over the world who enrich our community.  And also a time for refugees and their families to make connections with others.  

 

Champloo

 

Complete with Boba tea, rolled ice cream and K-pop videos, Champloo Desserts is a mecca for preteens and their suffering moms. A group of girls danced to the music while waiting for their order.

The ice cream is made on the spot by mixing the flavors in a slurry and then quick freezing flat.  It is then scraped off the cold plate in rolls.  Supposedly a street food in Thailand...?

Fishing pier

Shelly Lake fishing pier through the trees.

 

Conduit

A quiet place to sit, or a claustrophobic's nightmare.  A sculpture at the Raleigh Iron Works.

 

The real Iron works

At the far end of a little used parking lot at the Raleigh Iron Works development is this machine.  The remnants of the real iron works that sat at this location since 1950.  (see here)

 

Adult playground

Just in front of the brew pub at the Raleigh Iron Works is an adult playground.  The swings are very creaky.

The slide comes from the second floor of the building.  The rules are specific.  You must be over 18 and have adult supervision.  Can you supervise yourself?

 

First sighting

The first Monarch butterfly of the season was flitting around on the butterfly weed.  Very appropriate.

 

Iron Works

Raleigh Iron Works is a new mixed use shopping/residential location with a long history (see here) 

It looks like it will be a fun place to visit when its vacant spaces are filled.

 

Right now it is a little bit lonely.

Experiment

Durant park has an experiment going on.  They are creating a wildflower meadow from a grassy area.  They need to kill the existing lawn.  In the first plot they covered the grass with cardboard, waited 8 weeks and then planted the wildflower seeds.

It looks lush with tall plants growing.

In the second plot they covered the grass with black plastic for 8 weeks and planted.  It looks slightly more lush than the first.

In the last plot they just planted the wildflower seeds.

 

There are many more weeds and several bare spots.

The real test will be later this summer when the wildflowers start to bloom.  We'll be checking back!